The Campaign to Arrest Ed Shann's Influence in Western Australia: Economics in WA 1913-1934‪.‬

Abstract: Edward Shann used his status as a foundation professor at the University of Western Australia (1913-34) both to articulate laissez-faire ideas in public forums and to mould a generation of bright undergraduates within a singular economics program that was free-market, policy-oriented and historical in flavour. A number of powerful identities in Western Australia resented the free-market commentaries that Shann dispensed in the public domain and before his students, and hence orchestrated a public campaign to arrest his influence. In this paper I provide an account of Shann's influence in Western Australia from 1913 to 1934, trace the campaign waged against him (and economics), and contend that this campaign, in some small part, contributed to his decision to leave that state. 1 Introduction